I did a thing - Custom enclosure and stand

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chrsschb

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Complete pic:
cWsHlBe.jpg


Full album:
https://imgur.com/a/vcmFxhw

What do you think? My daughter and I probably have 4 months invested in this (at least from start to finish). Between school and life we worked on it when we could and we're happy to finally be done.


Bonus:
2nVabSA.jpg
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
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You are a mad man using that drill sander lol!
I still haven't finished mine, been sick recently and haven't been able to get anything done in the shop.

Why did you decide to go with 36" high curiously?
Did you plan on painting it from the get go? Usually people save the expensive plys for if they are going to stain or oil finish. Pine is for painting :mrgreen:
Boy that was some expensive glass lol! But you got nice thick glass and at least it was made to how you wanted it. I have been using the cheap glass at Home depot, and basing my dimensions off of what I can get there.

It looks great though I'm sure your daughter appreciated spending the time together with you to make it. My daughter is turning 1 this month, so we have a couple years to go before shes in shop with daddy :mrgreen:

-Brandon
 

chrsschb

Member
Original Poster
claudiusx":3o4gxozk said:
You are a mad man using that drill sander lol!

I quickly learned that, lol. I didn't want to invest in a belt or orbital sander and the little mouse was taking forever. It was a pita to control.

claudiusx":3o4gxozk said:
Why did you decide to go with 36" high curiously?

I wanted plenty of room to hide all the lights and stuff without sacrificing the 24" of usable space. I ended up shrinking the light area during the build and the usable internal height ended up being 25-26" total.

claudiusx":3o4gxozk said:
Did you plan on painting it from the get go? Usually people save the expensive plys for if they are going to stain or oil finish. Pine is for painting :mrgreen:

Outside yes, cause the base was painted grey too. As I learned in the base build, stains don't like wood filler, despite what that stupid label says. As for the wood, I like birch! Nice and solid construction vs pine ply I've used before.

claudiusx":3o4gxozk said:
Boy that was some expensive glass lol! But you got nice thick glass and at least it was made to how you wanted it. I have been using the cheap glass at Home depot, and basing my dimensions off of what I can get there.

Yeah I got quotes from a couple places and most were in the $120-180 range. I wanted safety glass and I wanted 1/4" thick so that added cost. I don't have to worry about anything crazy though if something happens and Munch will never be able to scratch it.

claudiusx":3o4gxozk said:
It looks great though I'm sure your daughter appreciated spending the time together with you to make it. My daughter is turning 1 this month, so we have a couple years to go before shes in shop with daddy :mrgreen:

Thanks, it was definitely a good experience for us. Much frustration and patience-trying learning happened along the way. The biggest things we learned were to vastly exaggerate your details and account for the thickness of the foam coat/grout. I accounted for these by subtracting 1/2" to all my internal cuts; it wasn't enough. I ended up having to buy a diamond blade for my dremel and slowly cutting the pieces down to size cause things didn't fit. Also, the grout/foam coat warped many of the longer pieces so that affected the final dimensions too.

Glad it's done! :mrgreen:
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
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chrsschb":2k040t2y said:
Glad it's done!
That's what i'm practicing saying lol. It always starts out fun. That goes away lol. Then you finish it and a few weeks later think, hey they actually was fun, I should do it again! LOL.

The birch ply is still pine ply, just with a birch veneer on the top and bottom layer. At my Home depot at least, you can get the smooth sanded pine ply that is very good for about 32 bucks a sheet. The Birch, maple, and oak veneer plys like you used are all around 50 bucks a sheet for me too.

Since I'm going to be oil finishing mine, I went with maple ply on the areas that would be exposed to the eye, and the regular pine ply everywhere else. They are the same exact brand of ply (purebond) so the quality was the same between both products.

Either way, congrats on finishing it. Thats an accomplishment in and of itself to anyone who has tried to make a fully custom enclosure. The adding of the full tank rock work is what really makes it a project. After you build a couple tanks, you can knock out a full tank in a day or two. But add custom rock work to it, hello another 4 months lol.

-Brandon
 
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